I think the sentiment in most of the posts here is just right - you’re not at fault, particularly if they didn’t make the booking themselves.
Don’t let this experienceput you off. Nightmare guests are few and far between.
Keep smiling! 
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Just an update, in case anyone cared lol.
Came home last night, expecting to have a full, serious convo with her, even had all the rebuttals ready and everything. Came home, went to guest bathroom right away and found the light was completely fine! I was even more baffled. She came back and explained that there was “smoke” coming out behind the mirror (which is not possible, I checked with management company) and that’s why she was afraid to turn on the lights. Apparently smoke was so bad that my apt was filled with odor for days. And no, she didn’t call the management company like she told me before (which confirmed what management told me after I double and triple checked with them, there was no record of her calling). Not sure if she changed her story after I told her before I came back that I know everybody at management company and I could easily find out who did not fix things for her.
She never mentioned of moving out and is staying so I’m obviously not gonna refund her anything.
All in all, a very bizarre situation and guest. It was blatant that she is a perpetual liar and thinks she is pretty good at it bc her story still had plenty of holes. I’m letting it go bc I will never find out why she did or said the things that she said. I am just thankful that things didn’t turn out worse than it did!
ALL your comments have been extremely helpful and it was a very steep learning curve for me lol! Thanks guys!
Oh gosh Amy I didn’t realise this was happening right now! Has has she left now?
What a strange situation!
Strange would be an understatement. She was about two weeks into her stay when I left town…has about a week left at my place
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Wow…what a compulsive liar. She made up the entire story about your apt. being filled with smoke for days? I wonder how she got rid of all that smoke? - lol.
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amygirl of course we care!!! We all learn from each other and lean on each other in such times. We need each other!! We can’t really talk to our friends cause they don’t have a clue…
So sorry you got a lunatic for your first guest!!! Please do report all of this to airbnb so that they will be on the alert for her crazy review.
However, from my experience with such people, I would not be surprised if she left you a glowing 5 star and leaves you staring at the screen with you jaw hanging open…
Keep us posted!
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You’re right, this is a great community! None of my friends could relate! One friend had been a host for a long time, but never had any problems with her guest though (lucky her!).
Other than the lying, she is a good guest. She is relatively clean, respects my privacy, etc. When I first talked to her when I came back, she made all the ‘issues’ seem like a slight annoyance than anything, rather than the “I’m so unhappy that I’m gonna move out” tone that I got when I was away. Maybe things do get lost in translation. I wouldn’t be surprised if she does leave me a good review.
I will be going away soon and she will be staying at my place alone again for a few days. Wouldn’t be surprised if she called me again about “issues”, such as seeing an Unicorn on my balcony 
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Honestly, I’d ask her to leave and refund her in cash. Bad review or not. Lies after lies and I don’t see the point. Maybe to be in the centre of attention? Also, if I want to stay somewhere I book it for myself. My mum is 54 and she is not great with the web either, but she wouldn’t ask someone to book something for her. Not even a hotel through booking.com. She sits there and tries until she succeeds. The smoke story is plain bizarre so is that she stayed in a hotel for a few nights?! I wouldn’t feel comfortable with leaving her alone at my place again.
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that last sentence made me laugh
To me it sounds like she made up the story of the hotel to try to get a refund thinking you won’t know if she was there or not. Some people are so dishonest and creepy it’s astounding. It would upset me having to live with this person for another entire week knowing they have lied and tried to cheat you out of money. Unfortunately Airbnb doesn’t make it overly easy to get rid of people like this, so unless you want to go through a whole bunch of trouble (and it doesn’t sound like it), then I guess you’ll just have to hope her dishonesty doesn’t result in anything else.
For future reference you don’t owe refunds to people that have decided to leave your home for their own reasons. ‘I’m scared alone’ is a new one around here, and we’ve heard a few!
Yeah, I think your theory is highly probable. I actually thought about it too. She did mention that the hotel that she was staying at (if she really did stay at a hotel) was full bc of some convention in town, so I think she was about to make up some lame execuse and leave and force me to refund her, then she realized she couldn’t get a room, so she downplayed the whole thing. But which brings to another point, there are so many airbnbs around, she could’ve easily stayed elsewhere. Or maybe she realized her story had full of holes in it and that it was impossible to cover up. If she really was gonna ask me for a refund, I would have asked her to show me her hotel receipt.
Well, I wasn’t gonna refund her bc she was scared of living alone, it was bc she said the light in the bathroom went out and that it made living in the apt really inconvenient as that was the only bathroom. Now looking back, the story is a bit forced but at the time, I had no way of checking whether her story checked out.
Yes, some people are so dishonest, they will say and do anything to get what they want. I guess it should be all uphill from here? Surely, there are good guests out there right?
Crazy thing is I think she would like to stay with me again in the future. Uh…
Please let us know how this ends. And take care of yourself, ok? She does sound a bit, um, special.
We’re all rooting for you!
Yes Amy, it surely does improve. You’ve really got a strange case on your hands. I would absolutely call Airbnb so they are aware of the story and that she tried to essentially blackmail you for money by claiming a bunch of lies. This sort of thing does need to go on record, because she might be liable to try something somewhere else where a host is not there to be able to check what has happened. It is clear that the light bulb works, so that’s a lie, and the smoke. These are pretty serious allegations, and she tried to demand a refund, for which you have communications from both her and her friend.
What is most bizarre about it is that you had a fine relationship with her before you left. I bet she took your suddenly leaving without saying goodbye as some kind of rejection or abandonment and decided to get vindictive. There really are people with personality disorders out there, so it makes sense we will run into some.
Personally I would never accept this guest again. It’s not safe when people are not honest. You’ll have better experiences ahead.
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